Sheena Patterson of Oxford Garden Design picks the best bunch for Valentine's Day

Roses are red, violets are blue, flowers need bees and I need you! A poetical contribution for my Valentine seems an appropriate beginning for today’s article, assuming he has time to read it. I’m also pre-supposing that there are a dozen red roses residing in my very best vase today.

The history of giving the love of your life Valentine’s Day flowers comes from the old-fashioned custom of sending floral bouquets to pass on non-verbal messages.

The rose is of course the traditional Valentine’s Day flower and red is the colour of passion and romance. We have to thank the Goddess of love, Venus, for this particular tradition. Legend has it that it was her favourite flower and I certainly wouldn’t disagree with her. There’s no doubt in my mind that for scent and colour there’s nothing like a rose, and being a Lancastrian Lass, red has got to be the colour of my choice.

White roses symbolise unity, so for a truly romantic touch, red roses with one single white is probably perfection. The problem is that in the fog, sleet and ice of the average Oxfordshire February – not to mention the extreme flooding of this particular February – red roses aren’t too common a sight in our gardens at this time of the year.

So, of course, like so many things, we import them from hotter climes, such as Kenya.

With supply now constantly outstripping demand, the price of a Valentine’s Day rose is often three or four times the standard cost and flower producers make 40 per cent of their annual revenue in February and March. Astoundingly, the production line is now so efficient that flowers picked in the early morning in Kenya, can be sold at Europe’s flower auctions the same day.

So there really is no excuse for giving the love of your life a dried up half dead looking, buy-one-get-one-free special offer from the local garage on your way back from work.

Chaps, I’m afraid that old trick also comes charged with messages of their own! When rushing out to buy your loved the imported red and white roses, men (80 per cent of flowers bought for Valentine’s Day are purchased by men) please note that to convey a special meaning, there is more than just colour to consider. The number also plays an important role, and the number most commonly associated with roses is one dozen. This number appears throughout mythological and religious traditions as well as arising from the significance of the number twelve such as twelve months of the year, hours on the clock, signs of the zodiac and so on.

One dozen roses symbolises a declaration of love, perfection and completeness.

Can a single red rose convey much the same meaning as a dozen? Well, yes... but it can also give your loved one the impression that you’re broke, which is possibly not the symbolism you were striving to achieve!